|
|
2 |
Paul Monette Last Watch of the Night
Harcourt Brace 0151000719 / 9780151000715 Hardcover Very Good
0151000719 From Publishers Weekly nMonette, a brave and impassioned gay activist, won a National Book Award in 1992 for his autobiography, Becoming a Man. However, the essays collected here--some are original, others are reprinted from Frontiers magazine, the New York Times , etc.--are not uniformly satisfying; Monette's prose is mannered, at turns maudlin and splenetic. The pieces are wide-ranging: Monette pays tribute to his loyal dog, Puck; to gay priests; and to an unidentified former grande dame of Broadway, who is gay in both senses of the word and full of gossip about Garbo and Katherine Cornell. He also writes about the 1993 march in Washington for gay and lesbian rights. Recurrent themes--the galvanizing impact of the AIDS crisis on both the gay movement and its enemies; love's ability to transcend the fragility of a body weakened by disease--hold the collection together. But Monette's attempts at lyricism and humor are awkward, the outbursts at the opponents of gay rights splinter almost every essay. Certainly one cannot be too angry about the homophobia that pervades American society, but some of Monette's subjects would be better served by more nuanced and self-effacing prose. nCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. n nFrom Library Journal nNational Book Award winner Monette provides his third autobiographical installment of life with AIDS and in the gay rights movement. Following his poignant Borrowed Time (LJ 8/88) and the much-heralded Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story (LJ 5/1/92), this book opens the remaining chapters of Monette's life album for all to read. In a collection of ten essays, Monnette writes passionately of life with lovers Roger and Steve, his grief over their early deaths from AIDS, the moral imperative of libraries to actively combat forces of censorship, and the anguish and anger caused by the AIDS holocaust. Reflecting upon his life, Monette poignantly confesses I know why I've been pulling out the scrapbooks these last weeks, because the journey has suddenly stalled. The road doesn't go any further, the bridges are all washed out, or maybe I've just gone overboard in a squall. Certainly another award winner for Monette, this is a meritorious selection for all libraries. n--Michael A. Lutes, Univ. of Notre Dame Lib., Ind. nCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Price:
10.30 EUR
|
